Old and New
by Doppler Effect
Summary: When a 34 year old Ed crosses the border between a parallel universe, he finds his younger self still fighting the homunculi war. By chance, he learns the date that Hughes died has yet to pass, and he still has a chance at being saved. Manga ending.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: hello to you all, and thanks for reading this. I randomly thought of this one day while actually thinking up a crossover, but what the hell, I'll write it out anyway. By the way, don't contradict me on the parallel universes. It's my own damn theory, and it's my story, so there.

I don't own FMA.

* * *

><p><em>(1933)<em>

"Hey, he said to wait!" Al called after him.

"Psh, it's perfectly safe. I don't get this sort of stuff wrong," Ed easily replied. "The only thing we've got to worry about are aliens on the other side deciding I taste good. Open the portal, Al. I'll return in half a day, at most. After that, you can go through after me. Alright?"

"You don't even have your alchemy anymore! It's more dangerous for you then the rest of us!"

"I can't just research forever without getting out! God, I wonder what my younger self would say if he heard that. Anyway, this is definitely a chance at getting out of the house!" Ed exclaimed.

"Winry threatened you, didn't she?"

"…There might be a bit of truth to that statement. Look, just open it so that I can keep my brain cells. Please, Al?"

"…Fine. Don't get killed. And try and get back before the Fuhrer gets here."

"Yup."

Al opened the portal in the basement they were standing in, and Ed walked through.

* * *

><p><em>(1914)<em>

There had been proof of parallel universes that someone had discovered. Not Ed, he'd been too busy trying to figure out how the hell the plants Winry kept around the house died every time he went near them. Back to the universes. Mustang had happened to mention it to Al and Ed, and Winry had happened to overhear the conversation. She'd yanked Ed aside, and demanded him to volunteer, lest she give him permanent brain damage via the Wrench of Doom. He'd volunteered. Mustang had told them they were going to open the portal that day, but his train had been delayed for two hours. The array for the portal had been discovered by Marcoh and Ed working together.

Winry and Al were the only ones in the house, and the others should have been showing up shortly. Winry had come to make sure everything turned out alright, and in case his automail broke. Again.

Since he had little next to no patience in matters like these, Ed had decided to go ahead and go through instead of waiting for Mustang.

"This looks more than a little familiar," Ed muttered, looking around the streets of Amestris, or a country like Amestris. He walked down one of them, looking at all the familiarities. Ed smirked as he passed a group of people, all of whom were in Mustang's usual office staff. "What's the date?"

"August 15, 1914," Mustang responded easily, moving on.

Ed halted in his steps.

That was the day that Hughes had died.

* * *

><p><em>(1914)<em>

"Pipsqueak and Al caught his train?" Mustang absently asked, walking down an Amestrian street.

"They should have. We didn't get any messages saying otherwise. Although it's not like they'd tell us if they didn't make it," Havoc responded. "Is Hughes still working on that project?"

"Yeah. At least we don't need to hear any more about the pictures," Mustang said.

A man began to pass by them, and then reconsidered, turned to them, and asked, "What's the date?"

"August 15, 1914."

"You need to get to a phone booth at Headquarters." Mustang raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to ask a question, but the man interrupted him by snarling, "_Now_, or someone you know is going to_die_." He bolted forward again, running past them.

Mustang exchanged a surprised glance with the others around him, and took off after the strange person.

* * *

><p>Barely three minutes had passed before they finally managed to catch up to the man. He was a pretty fast runner, and Mustang hadn't been able to use flame to make him stop with people standing around. He had stopped, and glanced over his shoulder at them as they came to a halt as well.<p>

"What the hell were you talking about?" Mustang asked, trying to keep his voice patient with the nut-job who'd made them run all the way back to HQ. It wasn't working.

"What time is it?" he asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"It's nine thirty-one," Fuery said, checking his watch. "Why-"

The man hissed, and pointed sharply at a door on the other side of the grounds. "There. He should be coming through there any time now. Damn, I didn't even think about something like this happening. The chances..."

"What do you mean, you didn't-" Hawkeye started before breaking off. The door flew open, and Maes Hughes stumbled out, clutching his shoulder. Mustang bolted forward across the grounds, quickly followed by the rest of the group.

"Hughes!" Mustang shouted, getting his comrades attention.

"Mustang! Watch out! I don't know where she went!" Hughes yelled back, leaning against a tree as the others met up with him.

"It's not Lust you need to worry about. It's Envy," The strange person said quietly.

"I don't believe we've met," Hughes said, looking up at the person.

The man gave a snort. "Far from it. I've met you all more times than I have fingers and toes. You just don't recognize me. It's dark anyway."

"I think I'd recognize your voice."

"Okay, back to the hole in your side," Mustang snapped. "Hughes, what the hell happened?"

"Homunculus. I found something in my research, and one of the Homunculi came in and tried to kill me. I got away long enough to get from the phones in the building to out here," Hughes explained. "Mustang, they're going to kill everyone in Amestris if they can. That's why Bradley attacked Ishval."

"They attacked us after the soldier accidentally shot the child," Mustang said, faint confusion in his tone.

The man beside them shook his head. "The soldier was Envy. It wasn't an accident."

"You already figured everything out?" Hughes asked.

"No. I did a month from now." He blinked. "I think so, at least. Or maybe it was two months…"

"Do you know how many Homunculi are in the area?" Hughes asked, ignoring the oddness of what the man had just said.

"No. At least two." The man glanced around. Then he shook his head angrily. "He'll be getting out here anyway. At least it'd be on our terms. When the Homunculi steps out, kill him as many times as you can before he kills any of us. Got it?"

"What?"

The man let out an impatient breath. "The Homunculi regenerate. Kill them once, they keep fighting. They're not human, and their core is a Philosopher's Stone. They didn't want Hughes unleashing their secret, so they sent at least Lust and Envy after him. Gluttony might be in the area too, the Father's somewhere below us, and Wrath and Pride might be in the area. If all six are here, make as much noise as possible before we all die."

"Shouldn't we just avoid them?" Falman asked.

"Too late. They're already here, and they'll probably have the exits covered." The man stepped forward, and yelled, "Hey, Envy! Get your ugly ass out here!"

A figure stepped out of the trees nearby, smirking. "Don't know how you figured things out so quickly, since I don't even know who you are. Stray scholar, perhaps? Happened to notice a trend? Doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon."

"At least it's not the short jokes anymore."

'Envy' frowned. "You're not short."

"Hah! You admit it!" the man yelled excitedly, pointing at the Homunculus.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Mustang rolled his eyes, and snapped. Fire leaped toward the Homunculus, and encompassed it. "End of problem. Now what the hell is this all-"

"Pay attention, Mustang! You're the only one here who can fight it, you idiot!" The man shouted, and pointed behind him as Mustang turned to face him and Hughes.

Mustang whipped back around, and someone leaped past him. Envy. The Homunculus flew at the man, and the two toppled over. The man lashed out, and the Homunculus rolled off him. The man jumped to his feet and backed away a far enough distance for Mustang to snap safely again. Envy scrambled away, and grinned.

"You should just give up. You'll all die anyway."

The man gave an amused snort. "Oh please. You can't kill Mustang and I, and you won't be able to get past us to kill them. So how about _you_ just give up and go away?"

Envy laughed."Wow, you've got some arrogance going there. I'll kill you all." He began to lunge forward.

"We're sacrifices."

Envy halted at those words. "What?" he snarled. "No, you're not. How would you even know if you are?"

"There are four people who fit the job prescription for your sacrifices. I'm one of them. You don't have a fifth, which you need, so Mustang's a potential sacrifice. You'll just make him fit the requirements," the man explained. "Jeez. It's obvious."

Envy laughed. "Idiot. I know the names of the four sacrifices, and you aren't one of them. I know that just by looking at you. And now that you've told me that you fit the requirements, we don't need Mustang."

"Edward and Alphonse Elric, Izumi Curtis, and Van Hohenheim. Those people are your sacrifices. I'm one of them, you just don't realize it. It's complicated to the extreme."

Mustang took the distraction, and snapped again. The flame leaped toward Envy, and Envy jumped backwards. When the flame cleared, the Homunculus was gone. "You've given us something to think about. Until next time." The voice faded, and Envy didn't reappear.

"How the hell did you know all that stuff?" Mustang rounded on the strange man.

"Hospital now, talking later," the man said, and flicked his eyes over at Hughes, who gave a less-than-normally-cheerful wave.

* * *

><p>Between all of them helping, Hughes was at the nearest hospital in minutes. By chance, he got his own room. After he'd been tended to, and they were all in the room, Mustang was able to interrogate the man again. He seemed to be staying in the shadows of the room, and between that and the fading daylight it was still impossible to recognize him from anywhere, although he did seem familiar.<p>

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh damn, this is complicated. Actually, I'm not supposed to be here, and-shit, I was supposed to be back a few minutes ago." The man glanced at the clock in the room. "Look, if I don't get back soon, um, my wife's going to knock my brains out of my head."

"Fine. Answer my questions, and maybe it won't be as bad."

"No, you don't understand. It's really complicated. Just... Agh. You wouldn't understand. It's this weird...alchemy thing." The man crossed his arms, and shifted his weight irritably. He uncrossed his arms, and began to walk to the door.

Mustang stepped in front of him, eyes narrowing. "I'm an alchemist. Explain it."

"I _know_ that you're an alchemist. I served under you for four years and help out occasionally. However, it'll take me an hour or so to explain, and I don't _have_ an hour or so before some friends of mine come through." The man growled. "The hell with it. You want answers? Fine. Come with me, but don't complain when it doesn't make any sense." He stepped around Mustang, and strode out the door.

Mustang glanced back at Hughes. "Would you be alright if we-Hey! The hell are you doing?"

The man looked back in, amused, as Hughes stood from the bed, and threw on a coat, Mustang glaring at him irritably. "Oh please. I'm coming with you guys, Mustang. You're not leaving me out of this one."

"So says the person who just got stabbed," Mustang said.

"Exactly! You all know what's going on too, so therefore if I go with you we'll all have a better chance of staying alive! Besides, I don't want a second hand account of what's going on. I get the feeling he's not going to explain this twice." Hughes grinned.

"Damn right." The man grinned back, and shrugged at Mustang. "Sorry, but he speaks the truth. Coming?" He motioned to the hallway.

Mustang sighed, and he and the rest of the ones in the room trailed after him as he followed the mysterious man.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, but <em>this<em> is where you live?" Mustang raised an eyebrow, and the man shot him a look over his shoulder. "No offense, but your attire seems to not fit in with around here."

"Hey! Elric! Where the hell were you?" a voice said, and another man stepped out of the shadows of the dirty alleyway they were standing in. "You were supposed to be back half an hour ago, and you weren't supposed to associate with anyone h-" The man stopped, staring at the group.

"Elric?" Mustang asked, then froze. The man had an uncanny resemblance to Ed. That's how he knew him. But he had said he served under him for a few years, so wouldn't he have recognized him easier, or remembered that someone with that close a likeness to Ed was under him? Unless... No, that was impossible. But...

"Is it just me, or does your voice sound a lot like Mustang's?" Hughes said suspiciously. Mustang glanced at him. It did seem like his impossible theory was beginning to make sense, and even Hughes was relenting to it.

"Are... Elric... Elric, is that..." The newest man barely managed, staring at Hughes.

"August 15, 1914," the first man said quietly.

The newest man didn't speak for almost a whole minute before he quietly said, "Thanks."

"Alright, what _the hell is going on_?" Mustang finally lost it and resorted to shouting at the two who wouldn't explain a thing. "How did you know what was going to happen, and how do you know all this crap when we didn't have a clue? You don't even have access to the military files, as far as I know." He was _not_ going to simply _assume_ that they were time travelers. That was just _ridiculous._

The two didn't speak for a minute, before the blond said, "Hughes didn't survive. His death certificate says that Brigadier General Maes Hughes died on August 15, 1914 in the line of duty on Central grounds. The information he found was later destroyed by Homunculus Lust, but his death allowed then-Colonel Mustang and the people he worked with under him to uncover what the Homunculi had been planning, and stop the death of millions."

Mustang's eyes widened slightly. The man sounded like he knew what he was talking about, like he wasn't making it up off the top of his head. "What?" he hissed.

"The day the last Homunucli was killed, Alphonse Elric returned to his normal body and Edward Elric was given his arm back and simultaneously forced to retire from the military. Nine years after, Roy Mustang was made Fuhrer. Seven years after that, proof came across that parallel universes existed. Fuhrer Mustang assigned Edward Elric and Tim Marcoh to investigate. Two years later, and a portal between dimensions was created," the blond said quietly. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah. For instance, who are you?" Breda asked behind Mustang.

"Hey, what's taking you two so long?" Someone leaned out of the wall. The solid. Brick. Wall.

Behind Mustang, he heard everyone but Hawkeye make some sort of surprised noise from a squeak, a yelp, a muffled shout, and a thud that sounded like someone hitting the floor. He couldn't keep the surprise off his face himself.

"Oh, bad timing? Sorry, come back...later..." the voice trailed off as the figure caught sight of Hughes. "Uh..."

"Let's assume for a second that I'm a zombie," Hughes said. "That makes you all time travelers, in a parallel universe sense?"

"Yeah. That's about it, and you two just couldn't resist, could you?" The first man, who they assumed was the older Ed, suddenly whacked himself with his palm. The 1914-Amestrians glanced at each other, and then caught sight of two people standing beside them.

"What the hell did you just say?" the smaller Ed snarled quietly, staring at Hughes.

"Talk about bad timing. This just got really confusing. Can we, like, duct tape everyone who passes through the portal to show who's who, and then call you people from the other universe 'Duct Tape Mustang', or 'Duct Tape Ed', and stuff?" Hughes suggested.

"We can't we duct tape you instead?" the second man, who they assumed was Fuhrer Mustang, protested. "I'd prefer _not_ to be walking around with duct tape."

"Yeah, you've got enough silver on you already. Don't need anymore." The older Ed snickered. F. (Fuhrer) Mustang glared at him, and he laughed harder. Then he straightened in sudden realization, and walked over to C. (Colonel) Mustang. "Oh, wow. You weren't nearly dead back then. Look, he doesn't even have any grey hairs!"

"Hey, Elric, watch it!" A tick pulsed on F. Mustang's head.

"You realize I'm standing here, right?" C. Mustang asked, his own tick mark appearing.

"Makes it all the funnier." The older Ed grinned. The streetlights had come on, and all the faces in the alleyway were clearly seen. The younger Elrics definitely had no idea what was going on. They were both staring at the older versions of Mustang, Ed, and Breda, who had come through the portal.

"Ed, look!" Hughes suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the older Ed. "He's taller than Mustang! Don't worry, you'll hit your growth spurt eventually!"

"What?" Y. (Younger) Ed looked up, and saw that there were about three to four inches of height in which O. (Older) Ed topped Mustang. "Victory! Take that, you stupid Colonel!"

"You've got no reason to brag. This is a parallel universe, remember? You might never hit the growth spurt because they interfered with time," C. Mustang retorted.

"Hey, I was still short back then! And I was _really_ short too...wow... No wonder everyone called me midget..." O. Ed commented, cocking his head and staring at his younger self, who looked ready to bash his brains out.

"I'm not short, you ancient, lost-of-the-art, so old you saw the dinosaurs, time-travelling freak!" Y. Ed yelled back, being restrained by his brother.

"You must really be short if your other self is calling you short," C. Mustang commented.

"Get over here and let's see how long your brain cells last!"

"Hughes!" Al exclaimed. "Are you hurt?"

"What?" Y. Ed stopped struggling, and they both hurried over to him.

"Oh yeah... Kind of forgot about the whole thing, actually. Even though it's why were here in this alley in the first place. Yeah, some Homunculus decided to kill me, so... Anyway, I'm fine." Hughes waved off the injury easily, which did nothing to help the nerves of the two Elrics.

"Why aren't you in the hospital?" Y. Ed nearly yelled at him.

"I wanted to see what was going on." Hughes waved a hand at the three people from the parallel universe. "Turns out I'm dead over there. Kind of creepy."

"You're _what_? How the hell did that happen?"

"Didn't survive tonight. Wait..." Hughes felt realization dawn on his face. He turned to the older Ed. "Ed, you..." For a second, everyone thought he was about to say something serious and actually relevant to everything going on. "_You got married_! I _told_ you, I _told_ you that it would happen! Didn't I tell him?" Hughes excitedly turned to the nearest person, Falman, who was repeatedly whacking his head on the nearest wall. "Oh, well, you're no fun." He turned to Fuery. "Didn't I tell him?"

"Yes, you did," Fuery sighed.

"What do you mean, he got marri-oh." C. Mustang nodded, as he remembered O. Ed saying he had to get back before his wife killed him. "I remember. Ed got married." He smirked at Y. Ed. "Hughes _did_ tell you it was going to happen."

Y. Ed took a new meaning to the word 'embarrassed'.

O. Ed wasn't faring much better. "Yeah, well, you screwed bachelorhood too!" he exclaimed to C. Mustang.

C. Mustang's eye twitched. "W-What?"

"Haha! He got _married_? Whose the poor woman?" Y. Ed chortled. Al nudged him to be quiet.

O. Ed coughed meaningfully and stared at the sky, trying not to laugh at F. Mustang, who glared profusely at him, and the other Breda began backing into the portal.

"Uh oh." Hughes raised an eyebrow. "Tell us!" The look in his eye was almost curious beyond his own good.

O. Ed began to try his own escape. F. Mustang grabbed his arm. "You started this you idiot, you finish it or come up with an excuse out of it!" He glared at O. Ed, who nervously smirked back.

"Uh... Both of our wives are probably going to storm through and take our heads off if one of us doesn't come through and tells them not to, and you have to stay because diplomacy is your job?" O. Ed tried to wiggle out of the grip.

"I meant an excuse out of what you _said_ not an excuse out of _here,_" Fuhrer Mustang growled at him.

"Uh..." O. Ed suddenly grinned. "Hughes figured it out." He nodded toward where Hughes was leaning against the wall, laughing so hard he was barely making a sound.

"Oh, you two bastards are going to die. I'm surprised you two aren't dead yet." He continued laughing.

"Well that's...charming. What?" C. Mustang asked, confused.

Fuery caught on, and smiled. It broke into a grin, and Havoc leaned closer to him. Fuery whispered something into his ear, and Havoc also grinned, laughing. "I agree with Hughes. How you two are still alive is a mystery."

"What?" Colonel Mustang asked, suspicious. A bad feeling began to grow.

"Alright, good bye. I'm running before everyone figures it out." O. Ed finally slipped out of the grip, and bolted through the portal. F. Mustang began to prepare a shout after him, before he flew back through the portal on his own, a wrench firmly embedded in his head. He groaned, and moved out of the way of another one.

An angry woman stormed through, looking pissed off. "You were supposed to be back _half an hour ago_, you idiot! What does _'half an hour'_ mean to you?"

"It means we might want to run before everyone in this alley figures out who Mustang got married too." O. Ed scrambled to his feet, and tried to sprint around the Winry who had come through the portal.

"What?"

"Just _run_." Without further explanation, he pulled her through the portal.

Y. Ed gaped after them. "Uh..."

Al seemed to have an evil aura going on. "Nice, Ed." He snickered.

"Hey, Al! That's just mean!"

"Oh no it's not. I always knew you two would make a good pair."

"Al!"

"Seems Winry's still the dominant one," C. Mustang commented, barely keeping a straight face.

"Shut up already, all of you!"

* * *

><p>an: There's more coming, there's more coming, don't bite my head off. This was just getting a little long, so I stopped it here. I got this idea one day when I thought it would be nice to go back and tell Isaac Newton how he paved the way for more science, even if he was partially wrong, to go back and tell Galileo he was right all along, etc. So, I decided, why not do that with FMA? I'm a fanfiction writer already, not a time-traveler, so...

Some of this stuff I know doesn't work. It just doesn't. Like Mustang and the ones with him would have figured everything out a lot sooner, and not taken nearly an hour. However, that was the way I wanted things to turn out, so... As for Winry, well, there were several scenes above that I wanted to throw in that I needed her present for.

Okey, how did I get August 15, 1914? Well, the year I got because that was the year I know he died from multiple sources. August I got because I'm pretty sure it was nearing winter. 15 I got because that was around the time I read that part, and also... *cough*... uh, that's about the day school started this year. o_o'

I'm probably going to try and finish the whole FMA series through this, if I don't get bored with it. Well, finish it really quickly, (in the course of three chapters), but finish it all the same. Just cutting out a lot of parts.


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: Okay, to make the whole who's who thing easier, here's something to help:

1914: Ed- Y. Ed (young Ed)

1933: Ed- O. Ed (older Ed)

1914: Mustang- C. Mustang (Colonel Mustang)

1933: Mustang- F. Mustang (Fuhrer Mustang)

I promise to make that whole thing as un-confusing as I can. If they're on their own, and their twin isn't there, I'll just call them by their name. If you think this is confusing, just remember that I'm typing out this whole damn thing.

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Duh.

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Al asked, leaning on a table and raising an eyebrow. Breda was watching the portal nervously, Ed looked a cross between amused and scared, and Winry was confused. "Alien planet trying to suck out your souls? Hey, did you guys abandon Fuhrer Mustang?"<p>

"More like parallel universe that took place nineteen years ago," Ed said. "And yes, we abandoned him. It was getting a bit crowded."

Breda snorted. "More like you let something slip that you shouldn't have. Something that you _really_ shouldn't have let slip. Just hope that the other two," Breda coughed, glancing around meaningfully, "don't figure out you were referring to them."

Ed rubbed the back of his head. "Er, yeah... But it'll happen eventually, so why not let them know now?"

"What are you two talking about?" Al asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you do something illegal?"

Ed glanced at Al, and then quickly at one other person in the room before she noticed. "No, nothing illegal. Um, more like... what happens in the future..." Al understood, and grinned. "Figured I didn't want to get killed, so..."

"What day is it over there?" Hawkeye asked.

Breda and Ed winced. "Uh..." Breda glanced at Ed, who sighed, leaned against a wall, and stared at the ceiling. "August 15. About half an hour after...that..."

Winry, Al, and Hawkeye stared at the other two. The door swung open, and Fuery and Falman walked in, with Havoc right behind them. "Hey, what'd we miss?" Havoc grinned. "What's in our neighboring universe?"

"But... you went through a few hours ago..." Al whispered. "So... is he...?"

Ed nodded. "He should live. If he would quit walking around with a hole in his shoulder. He was patched up in the hospital, though. I ran across the other side's Mustang, Fuery, Falman, Havoc, Hawkeye, and Breda, and I asked them what the date was. They told me, and I shouted at them, and dragged them over to the grounds. Envy got away, but we got Hughes to the hospital."

Everyone in the room stared at Ed.

"Hughes...?" Falman said, wonder in his tone. "He's on the other side?"

"I thought that was him, but I didn't think... that he really..." Winry said quietly.

"Yeah, that was him. Heh, I was pretty sure the Mustang over there was going to take my head off several times. It didn't help that none of them recognized me until we pretty much told them," Ed said. "I really didn't know that I was that short, or that Mustang didn't have any grey hair at that age."

"Well, shouldn't we go talk to them, then?" Al asked, beginning to walk through the portal.

Ed shrugged. "I think Mustang's explaining things. If you want to go help, sure. Just imagine how things are from their perspective. Actually, considering that, it might be best that you wait..." He stared at Al meaningfully.

"Oh, because Al has his body back now?" Falman asked.

"Yeah. They don't know I've got my arm back. We told everyone who I brought to the Central grounds and Hughes, but the other Ed and Al weren't there until Hughes clarified that we were from a parallel universe where we were probably seeing him as a zombie. Bad timing on their part, just saying," Ed said.

"We wait for him to come back through, then?" Hawkeye asked, nodding at the portal.

"Yup. Probably be best." Ed barely finished speaking before Mustang walked through, rubbing his head. "Well? How'd it go?"

"What do you think?" Mustang snapped. "You go through. I'm tired of arguing with myself on the whole thing. It's way too damn hard. Our intellect is competing. You'll probably do better. You weren't the smartest when you were that young."

"I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or what," Ed raised an eyebrow, "but whatever." He shrugged, and walked through the portal again. Apparently, his attempt at lightening the mood to the point where they could slip back through and close the portal had failed. Colonel Mustang looked extremely pissed off. The ones standing behind him were all glaring as well. "Okay, he pretty much just told me to come through and not get my head taken off. What're you all ticked off about?"

"You know _everything_. You won't _help_ us to prevent getting people _killed_?" C. Mustang snarled. "For_ what_ reason warrants you to not help save lives?"

O. Ed frowned. "There's not much that we can do. You know everything you need to-"

"We're fighting beings whose core is a _Philosopher's Stone_. We can't fight _eight_ of those on our own while stopping one of them from killing everyone in this whole damn country!" Mustang shouted at him. "We bleed, and we _die_, as you've already proved! You've screwed up history already, whose to say we won't all die because of it? This is your fault, so give us some damn help!"

"Fine!" O. Ed yelled back. "Find Van Hohenheim! He'll help you, and if you ask _nicely_, you'll find that there's others out there who will help you! You're just too dense to see it! And don't accuse us of letting lives go to waste! We're in the middle of trying to keep Xing under control, since they're having some issues over there. We only came through to see if anything over here could help us calm them! We didn't realize it'd be a parallel universe set several years back!"

"Psh, you're worried about _Xing_ when your own country is about to _die_ at this rate?" Y. Ed snapped at him.

"Ling and Mei. Names sound familiar?" O. Ed crossed his arm. "They both gave aid. Ling's in charge now, and we're giving him help. We're repaying our debts, and we're also rebuilding Ishval. If you don't mind, our hands are already pretty damn full."

"There aren't any others out there who can help us! Armstrong probably can, but no way in hell that bastard of a father will help us if we ask! He left us once, and why do you think we'll even be able to _find_ him, dumbass?" Y. Ed snarled.

O. Ed rolled his eyes. He turned, and stuck his head through the portal. "Hey, I'm going to bring them through so that we're not attracting attention, and they'll be less willing to kill me if they're standing in a safe house in their future country. And there's a map in here too. You might want to clear out." He got nods in response, and Winry opened the door as Ed pulled his head back through. "Come on, it'll make more sense this way."

A minute later, and O. Ed had a map spread out on a table. The 1933 Amestrians had cleared out, and the 1914 Amestrians had replaced them. O. Ed had sketched the array on the map of Amestris, and flipped it up to show the others. "Anyone want to take a guess at what will happen if this thing is activated?"

"That'll kill everyone." Y. Ed continued glaring at O. Ed. "You're only proving our point."

"Nope, I'm proving mine. First of all," O. Ed said as he sketched another pattern over the first, "you've got a year until the Father can activate this. You've got time. Second of all," he flipped the map up again to show the new array, "you'd need a Philosopher's Stone to create this. Guess who's been going around for the past few years in your time setting this down to save your country? This is how you find him. He has these down by now, and he's going to have to put these down in the next year." Ed drew circles over some of the spots to show which ones he had to get to, and crossed out the ones he already had.

"I'm not asking that bastard for help," Y. Ed snarled.

"Ed!" Y. Al hissed.

O. Ed threw his pencil at his younger self hard enough that Y. Ed wiped a streak of blood off his head. "That 'bastard' saved everyone in your whole country. No one would've been _left_ to bury the massive amounts of dead there would have been. Everyone. Dead. And you're still going to call him a bastard? When he put down his Stone, he was killing himself. After the battle, he saw you retrieve your arm and then minutes later get Al his body back. After that, it took him about a day to reach Mom's grave and then die."

He turned back around, ignoring the two surprised looks boring into his back.

"Okay, so we have two more people who can help us. Hooray, we're still screwed." Mustang crossed his arms, not relenting his glare. "I still don't see why you or anyone else can help us, since you have enough time to be doing... this." He motioned to another table in the room where the array for the parallel universe was set up.

O. Ed stared at him for a moment, before clapping his hands, and slamming them on the desk. Those in the room involuntarily took a step back to get out of the way or forward to stop him.

Nothing happened.

"We're a bit short on staff, right now," O. Ed growled. "Between the ones who died," he glanced at Hughes, "the ones who are crippled and can't fight," he turned to Havoc, who looked back in surprise, "and those who just can't fight," he glanced down at his hands, "there's nothing we can do to help you but point you in the right direction."

"Instead of pointing us in the right direction, tell us what the hell we need to do!" Mustang shouted.

A baby started crying upstairs. O. Ed glared at Mustang. "Now you've done it. Idiot."

Mustang frowned. "What?"

The door to the room flew open. A wrench connected solidly with Mustang's head. Winry stormed in, holding a crying child, and looking extremely irritated. "What the hell is your problem? There's nothing we can do over here without screwing up your time line anymore than we already have! We're trying to help you, and you're not listening! You _have_ most of the information you need, you're just not _using _it. There's no one here available who can help you, either! All the military personnel are trying to run a country, which is not a picnic, Ed can't use alchemy anymore, Al will get killed if he's not careful if he goes through, and everyone else is either in Xing or Ishval! What exactly do you want us to _do_? Are you all too crippled and stupid to get things done by yourselves? _Huh_?"

None of them could respond to that.

"Why... can't you-I-you-whatever use alchemy anymore?" Y. Ed finally asked.

"I'm not sure I can tell you. If I do, it might not work anymore. I think you need to figure it out yourself, or you won't be able to get done what you need to. Just know, I don't need it anymore." O. Ed frowned. "Hm. I wonder if Greed will still be negotiable."

"_Greed_?" Y. Ed asked.

"Yeah. He helped kill the Father, actually. Turned on the Homunculi. He's been against them the whole time, and he decided that if he wanted to truly go against the Father, he should join our side. He tried to take control of the Father's body when he was weak, but was killed in the attempt," Ed explained.

"He worked with you? A homunculus?" Mustang frowned. "And you trusted him?"

"He was inside Ling, and Ling kept him under control for the most part. Occasionally he got out of hand, but the two made a sort of treaty and worked together as partners. By the end I think we trusted him, especially since he saved our lives quite a few times."

"What about Scar?" Winry asked. "The right circumstances won't happen anymore. You're going to have to do something about that if you want his help. And he killed Wrath after Greed took him down for the most part, and he's now in Ishval helping rebuild. I think you're still going to need him." She had quieted the baby by that time.

"Scar? You do realize he tried once to kill Nii-san, right?" Y. Al asked.

"Twice!" O. Ed grinned. "And Barry the Chopper helped us too!"

"What the hell? Do you go around making _all_ your enemies your friends?" Mustang snapped at the happy Ed of 1933.

"Just about! Well, except Kimblee. That guy was an ass. Pride killed him, by the way. But that was his own damn fault. Honestly, what did he think the homunculi would do once they finished their job? Give him a pony?" O. Ed rolled his eyes.

"What about Kimblee?" Mustang frowned.

"He allied himself with the Homunculi after Wrath let him out of prison."

Winry sighed. "Fuhrer Mustang said we're only going to give you information. The rest you're going to have to do on your own. By now, you might all die because we interfered." She turned to O. Ed, and said, "He's also quickly leaving the house, so if you want to yell at him for running away, do it now."

A tick mark erupted on the older Ed's head. "The damn wuss. I'll get him later." Winry gave a small smile, nodded, and left.

"You got yourself a fine wife, older kid." Hughes smirked. Both Eds threw something at him, and Al sighed.

"Give it a rest already!" O. Ed snapped. "Alright, what all do you people need to know that I haven't cleared up?"

"Who's Wrath?"

"You'll know him better as Bradley right now. Also, Selim was adopted from his side of the family. AKA, Pride. You haven't met anyone else who's name you don't know already."

"What other allies did we have?"

"Briggs. Everyone in Briggs. The Ishvalans too. Grumman gave aid, and so did some people under him. Four chimeras who tried to kill us. Scar, Mei, and Yoki. Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu. People you three worked with in the war." He nodded to Hughes, Mustang, and Hawkeye. "Major Armstrong." O. Ed gave a sudden laugh. "A news group helped us too. They had waaay too much fun with the whole thing."

"A news group?"

"Yeah. They were broadcasting for us during the revolt. Central command contacted them and told them to stop the report, and they told them they were being held hostage. In reality, they were lounging around, drinking coffee, and having the time of their lives." He glanced at their confused expressions. "We stormed the city to stop the Father, kill Wrath, etc. General Armstrong hid most of the rebels in the Armstrong house."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to lay out a chain of events to tell us what happened?"

"Oh fine."

* * *

><p>"Never let it be said that we're not a bunch of idiots," Havoc said.<p>

"Mm. Don't worry, we don't get much smarter. Mustang figured just how much paperwork there is when he became Fuhrer. His office is currently fighting a mini war against paper. The paper's currently the winning side," O. Ed said.

"We've got work, people. Let's go." Mustang stood, and turned to face the portal. He paused, and glanced over his shoulder to see the older Ed standing. "I thought you said you were going to stay behind."

O. Ed gritted his teeth. "There were some things... left unsaid. Things that if you learn them, you should figure them out on your own, or have them told by the right people. They're not my job. But without knowing them, you can't convince some possible allies to help you. The Ishvalans, for example. I know where to find Scar. Or more precisely, Scar knows where to find Scar at this time. You'll probably be able to convince the chimeras, but Al's going to have to do that. I'd yell at them too much." He grinned at Al's younger self. "The soldiers from Briggs really thought they were going to have to kill them to prevent them from turning on us before you stepped in.

"Besides, there's nothing I can do to help out over here. I'll give you all a hand."

* * *

><p>"Scar," a voice said out of the din of the alley. Scar looked up, as did Yoki and Mei. Mei instinctively began to get into a fighting stance, and Scar stood. "Oh please, I'm not going to attack you. I'm more of a message carrier. I can't even really fight anymore." He came into the limited light in the alley, and they saw a tall blond man.<p>

"You... look a lot like the Fullmetal Alchemist..." Mei said.

The man grinned. "You know, I spent roughly an hour around people who I've worked with for years, and none of them picked it up that quickly. Well, there may have also been a lack of light because of the time, but never mind. Yup, you got it right. You've met my younger version. I came across a few days ago from a parallel universe. This universe's Mustang dragged our asses back into this fight, even though we already won it. Although this was kind of my fault, us getting dragged in again..."

Scar narrowed his eyes. What he was saying made no sense. "Do you have any proof?"

"Yup. No alchemy," he clapped his hands and tapped the floor to no result, "my arm's back," he slipped off his glove and showed them a flesh hand, "and Mustang doesn't let anyone carry these around." He slipped a State Alchemist watch out of his pocket. "The Mustang of my time let me carry this around if I needed proof in a situation like this."

"What are you doing here, then. I tried to kill you," Scar said.

"Not to mention you took my mine," Yoki added.

"And betrayed my trust!" Mei exclaimed.

Ed raised an eyebrow, and sat down. "Okay, you jumped to conclusions for one thing," he looked at Mei, then turned to Yoki and said, "you had that coming for a long time," he glanced at Scar, and finished, "and actually, you tried to kill me twice. Once more in the future, although we admittedly set you up so that we could capture a Homunculus. That plan actually went down the drain though, since the Homunculus kind of ate Ling and I, and Lan Fan lost her arm. Moving on. I'm here because the Homunculi are trying to kill everyone in Amestris, and we can't kill them all with the limited amount of people that we had. Have. Whatever. Since I screwed up this universe's timeline by saving the life of Maes Hughes, I came through to make sure everything turned out alright."

"Are you asking us to help save a country that tried to eliminate my people?" Scar asked, voice low and dangerous.

Ed met his gaze evenly. "Yes. Yes I am."

"Why should we help?"

"Because the survivors of your people have taken refuge here. At least, quite a few have. Also, in 1933, Amestris has nearly finished rebuilding your country. Wrath-sorry, _Bradley_- only launched the attack on Ishval to help complete the circle for the Philosopher's Stone. That circle was activated in 1915, and everyone died, before a group of Ishvalans helped reverse the whole thing," Ed explained. "If you want proof, I can take you to 1933. There's more than a million people who can tell you all of what happened that I just said happened is true."

"Why come to us? I haven't spoken to my people in a long time, and I don't know how to find them."

"I can find them. And as I said before, I can't fight anymore. The other people in 1933 who can fight are caught up in either politics or helping Xing stay under control," Ed said. "You three aided us in your own ways, and we wouldn't have made it without you. We need your help. Again. Technically."

"I helped?" Yoki asked.

"Well, you ran Pride over with a car. Which was random at the time, but pretty funny now that I think about it. Running a Homunculus over has to amount to something." Ed shrugged.

"Wait. What's wrong with Xing?" Mei asked nervously.

"Ling Yao took power, with his protection covering the Chang clan as well. He united all the clans, and some of them are having a hissy fit about it. Because the two of you helped us, Fuhrer Mustang's returning the favor," Ed explained.

"I ran a Homunculus over with a car~" Yoki sang, not paying attention to the others.

* * *

><p>an: okay, so, yeah. Was the whole 1914/1933 people thing not confusing enough? No? Well then, I must make it more confusing! I'm kidding.

This is going to be a trilogy. Last one's next. Sorry, but no compromising.

On a philosophical standpoint. Don't contradict me, or get into an argument on the whole philosophy behind time travel and parallel universes. For one thing, I can take you. For another, we'll bore everyone else who doesn't give a shit to death.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: I'm afraid of screwing up the series. Sorry people, but this is the last chapter. If I put too much of my own influence into this story, it's going to become shit. End of conversation. That's what'll happen.

The four characters named Richard, Charlie, Alexandre, and Damiano are _not_ OCs. They all fought with Mustang in the war at least for a few days, and joined the revolt in Central when it became clear Mustang was leading it.

Is it just me, or is this story line beginning to take on a _Terminator_ feel?

Don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Wouldn't be able to think up all that. Even my epicness has limits. My stupidity, on the other hand, doesn't.

* * *

><p>"What do we have?" Hughes asked, sitting up as Mustang walked in. "Who's working with us?"<p>

"Briggs has decided to help. Ed and Al went up there and spoke with General Armstrong. Elric from 1933 found Scar and convinced him to find the other Ishvalans and give us a hand. We more or less kidnapped Kimblee, restrained him, took his Stone, and Al convinced the chimeras to work with us before he and Ed left for Briggs. We don't know where the Xingese are, but they should show up soon, and they're trying to get a message from 1933 as to where they were at this time." Mustang leaned against the wall in the safe house. Since they were pretty sure that Bradley would be making his move anytime soon, they had moved Hughes to a nearby safe house to recover, and were also using the place as a base in the operation.

It was also the house next to the portal on the left.

"You don't trust them." Hughes tilted his head slightly to one side.

"Not in the slightest," Mustang responded immediately. He glanced at his wounded friend. "Sorry. It's just..."

"It's creepy." Hughes gave a small smile. "When we saw your other selves... That was just plain creepy. They knew _everything_ about us. Which makes sense, since they _are_ us. Well, they're you guys, not me. And its annoying after having every single one of them gaping at me like I'm the walking dead."

"Hughes, to them you _are_ the walking dead."

"Well, I know that, but I'm just saying that it kind of gets old after a while. Still, why don't you trust them?"

"Elric. The older one that we saw. He had no right to refuse to tell Fullmetal and his brother how to get their bodies back. He left enough clues for them to figure out that he sacrificed his alchemy to get it, though, which makes no sense. He looks down on the rest of us, and acts more cheerful then he should while his younger self is still in pain. I knew that Ed was dense about some things, but there's a point where it's just cruel." Mustang stared at the opposite wall.

"Maybe... He can't tell. Maybe the Truth forced him into a pact, and that's why he couldn't flat out tell him. Or maybe, he thinks that the Ed we know has to figure out _why_ he needs to sacrifice his alchemy instead of something else. You're right, he shouldn't be that happy around his younger self. It's really pissing Ed off. I think he's going to yell at him the next time he sees the guy. I wonder if... I don't know. Maybe."

"Hey, Hughes. Can't read minds."

"Really, you can't? Anyway, the other Ed's got his arm back, right? He doesn't have to worry about being a military dog anymore. He's not travelling all over the place, frantically searching out some sort of thing he and Al can use to get their bodies back. Al's body is back to normal. He's settled down, and he's got a family. Wife and kids. He's got friends, and he doesn't have to watch their backs in case someone tries to kill them. He doesn't have to watch his own back for someone trying to kill _him_. Considering all that, why wouldn't he be happier? He doesn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore. He can relax for once in his life since he became an adult."

Mustang frowned. "Hughes, by the time he was an adult, the Homunculi were already dead."

"Not legally an adult. I mean when he mentally had to take the form of an adult. Ever since their mother died, ever since they lost their full bodies, they've had to be painfully aware of what they did. They don't have to live with that as much anymore. It's not ruling their lives. _They're_ ruling their lives. We never met Ed and Al before the day they tried human transmutation. We never saw what they were like before then. This is the Ed we never saw because his aggressive side was always fighting everyone, and the Al on the other side is the one who finally got to come out of the armor."

A minute of silence reigned before Mustang gave a small, "Heh." He continued with, "Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Never really thought of it that way. Those two really never got to live as children, did they? They had about six to seven years before their worlds crumbled. Before they were fighting against everything. On Ed's part, at least. And now..." Mustang suddenly whipped around to look at Hughes, who looked back curiously. "He's back to fight the war again. He's had years to reminisce on what happened, and he's back to right what he thought he did wrong. That's why he came back to fight. He _knew_ his side was going to be drawn in, so he volunteered. That selfish _bastard_. He's not here to help, he's here to screw even more things up!"

"Well, is he a bastard if what he does helps us?" Hughes shrugged. "Guess it depends on what he does. He probably does care, though, since he'll definitely want this world's Al to get his body back. If anything, they'll get his body back. And he might save some of his friend's lives too. Like, say, mine."

"What else is he going to do? He can't get everything done right. He's good, but he's not so good that someone isn't going to get hurt when he's screwing with time," Mustang snarled. "The kid's still a pain in the ass even when he's older. Aren't people supposed to _mature_ with age?"

"I don't know. I think I went backwards, then."

Mustang glared at him.

Hughes held up his hands. "Just saying. You asked."

"I'm going to talk to that guy. _And_ his superior officer." Mustang turned to walk out of the room.

"Is that such a good idea? Wrath's going to make a move sometime soon, and if you're off in a different universe yelling at yourself in a debate that'll go on for a few hours, he's going to do one hell of a lot of damage in that time," Hughes pointed out.

"You're trying to make this hard on me, aren't you?"

"I'm simply putting everything out on the table, and figuring it out as I go. Speaking of him, has Wrath made any sort of move yet? I would've thought he'd have done something by now." Hughes barely finished his sentence before the phone rang. Being the nearest, Mustang picked it up. He and whoever was on the opposite line went back and forth for a few seconds, before he slammed the phone down, and hurried to Hughes.

"We need to go. _Now._ Wrath pronounced all of us traitors for one thing or another, and the city's being torn upside down to find us. I told you Elric was going to screw up."

"Eh, just know I never took a side." Hughes began to stand.

That was when the door flew open, and a smoke grenade was tossed in.

* * *

><p>"Hey, old guy!"<p>

1933 Ed rolled his eyes at his younger self's stupidity, and turned around. "What? And I'm not _that_ old, pipsqueak."

To his surprise, there was no retort. "Mustang and everyone else the Fuhrer's knows is in on it was caught. They're being tried for treason. And they've got no chance at surviving the verdict."

* * *

><p>"What is it now? Did my younger self decide to beg for help? Wait, I would never sink that low. My ego is so big it would never allow it." Fuhrer Mustang rolled his eyes in amusement, and then turned to the previous Fullmetal Alchemist. "What's the hurry?"<p>

"Almost everyone was caught, that's what's the hurry. Bradley got just about everyone. The police were right behind the other Ed and Al, and I don't know if they got away. They were headed to Teacher's house, last I saw. They might make it, they might not. The ones waiting for a verdict sure as hell won't," Ed explained quickly.

Mustang stared at him. "What?"

"Don't make me repeat all that. Mustang, there's nothing I can do. I don't have alchemy anymore. And before you ask, Al went down to Ishval a week ago."

"Who all got captured? Is there anyone left that can help? We're in a bit of a twist here ourselves, since Drachma decided to aid some of the revolts in Xing. I can't leave to help, and I can't think of anyone I can send," Mustang said apologetically.

"You, Hawkeye, Fuery, Falman, Breda, Ross, Brosh, probably Ed and Al, Hughes, Generals Armstrong and Grumman, all four chimeras, and the few people they managed to contact and gather together. Scar, Mei, Yoki, and the Ishvalans dropped off the map. We haven't had word from them since the first several were caught." Ed glanced back the way he'd come, as if expecting someone to show up, even though they were in Central, in the Fuhrer's office.

"Are you sure that's everyone who was caught that you contacted? Or that can help over there?" Mustang asked, catching several missing names.

"Yeah. Why?" Ed asked expectantly. He knew he'd missed something. That's why he was there.

"There's six people I'm pretty sure would be quite willing to lend a hand."

* * *

><p>"Okay, so all we have to worry about are eight Homunculi who are extremely hard to kill because they regenerate almost to the point of immortality stopping us and killing us?" Ling asked. "Well, what the hell, let's give this a try anyway. If it gives us a shot at claiming the throne."<p>

Lan Fan glanced at him nervously, obviously seeing how stupid the whole plan was. Fu sighed resignedly.

"Well, as long as I can chop people up, I'm good to go!" Barry excitedly raised his butcher's knife.

"Don't kill anyone you don't have to," Ed reprimanded. "Most of them won't know what's really going, or have any sort of clue. If that's not enough, then I don't think Hawkeye'll like it. Got it? No killing people."

"Damn."

"Shut up and let's get moving. On with the jail break."

"You know, you're not exactly what I was expecting you'd be like when you got older," Hohenheim observed.

"Trust me, at least you're not dealing with my younger self right now. I think he still hates your guts."

"Wonderful."

"Tell me about it. Alright, let's go release some people so we can get shot at and almost killed. Best plan ever."

* * *

><p>"Alright people, move, move! Get out of here, or I'll cut you up!" Barry shouted, running through the prison. Startled soldiers dodged him as he bolted through the hallways, four people close behind him.<p>

"Well, I don't think this was exactly what your plan was, but it works," Ling muttered to Ed, who nodded, amused. "Any idea where they are?"

"Nope. Figure if we clear everyone out first, we can just shout for them."

"Better idea!" Barry exclaimed ahead of them. He grabbed a soldier, slammed him against the wall, and pointed his butcher knife at the man's throat. The soldier let out a yell, and emptied his clip on the serial killer to no effect. "Doesn't work, pal. Where did they put the group of schemers?"

"They put them down that hall, but they're gone. Bradley finished the verdict, and they were moved to be executed publicly," the soldier stammered.

"Where are they now?" Hohenheim asked.

"I don't know, but-wait! Wait!" He raised both hands in a defensive gesture as Barry flicked his knife. "I don't know where they are _now_ but they'll be on Central's grounds in half an hour. The Fuhrer really isn't happy, and he wants a public display of what happens to people who oppose him."

"Half an hour?" Ed's face became emotionless. "Well, that's definitely enough time to get set up."

"You've got an idea?" Ling asked.

"Heh. Mustang's had way too much influence on me when it comes to this sort of thing. Also, I've pulled off enough illegal operations of my own," Ed explained. "Come on, let's go-"

"Wait!" The man exclaimed. "You guys are trying to get them out of the execution?"

"Yeah. Don't have time for a speech on how we'll fail or whatever." Ed turned his back on the man, and began to walk away. Although, didn't he look familiar?

"Wait a minute." The soldier grinned. He turned around, and shouted, "Hey, Charlie, Alexandre, Richard!"

Ah. _That_ was where he knew him from. Ed grinned. "Want to help?"

"Hell yeah!" the first person, who he recognized now as Damiano, replied excitedly. "If you guys are overthrowing the Fuhrer, we want in! Here, wait for a minute and we'll go grab some gear."

Ed's grin widened as the four scurried off, and returned a few minutes later with artillery and other gear. "Let's go overthrow a government, shall we?"

* * *

><p>"Holy shit." Ling stared at the group of people. "Quite a lot of people ready to help their leader. Who's not actually technically their leader."<p>

"I know. Alright people, stations! Let's get this going!" Ed shouted, and the soldiers hurried away, grabbing weapons and portable phones and medical gear. "Let's go kick some authority ass!"

"Oddest encouraging shout I have ever heard in my life," Fu muttered. "Guess it doesn't matter if it works."

"Hey! You, blondie!" a shout rang out. Ed turned, and suppressed a flinch as he saw his teacher striding up, eighteen years younger. "What do you want us to do?" She folded her arms, glaring defiantly at him. Sig, Mason, Y. Ed, and Al were all standing behind her.

"Where do you think you'll be able to do the most?" O. Ed wasn't able to suppress a grin.

"Front line. Where the hell do you think?"

"Fine. The circle's not completely set up, so we don't have to worry about the Father bastard activating it. Basically, here's our plan..."

* * *

><p>"This group of people is here for treason, and trying to destroy the government we have worked so hard to build. I will not see it crumble because of a bunch of misfits." Bradley stared down at the group in front of him, who stared defiantly back.<p>

"The hell with you!" a voice shouted. The crowd whipped around, as did Bradley and the ones marked for 'treason', as a bomb was launched into the air. Light flashed, blinding everyone, while the ones who weren't blinded couldn't see through the smoke that came out.

Figures dropped down beside them. Izumi and Sig Curtis, Y. Ed, and Al. Izumi clapped, and smacked the ground. It slipped out from under them, and they dropped into a hallway beneath Central's ground.

"What the-" Havoc began.

"Shut up and start moving!" a new voice said, and they saw Barry the Chopper standing in the dim hallway. The renegade group sliced the bonds holding their friends, and took off down the hallway.

"Where are we?" Mustang called out after the leading group.

"Central's tunnels. There's an immortal army down here, and we need to dispose of them. Don't want to have to deal with that later," Ed called.

"Fullmetal, what do you mean by 'immortal'? The homunculi aren't down here, are they?"

"The Father's down here, but that should be about it. The army's not human, and they basically keep on coming. They don't react to pain, and they keep going even with holes in their heads. Oh hello." Barry stopped as the doors farther down the hallway opened, and white figures poured out. "The other Ed forgot to mention they were ass-ugly."

"Move." Mustang snapped, and the flame hit the army. They were gone in seconds. "Not flame-proof, then."

"Quit bragging. Let's go," Ed said irritably, and ran on. Mustang smirked, and followed after him. "We still need to kill the Father."

* * *

><p>"This is an outrage! What's happening?" Colonel Douglas shouted.<p>

"Sir, we're being overrun!" A voice crackled through the phone.

"What?"

"A guerrilla group has stormed the city walls, and they're beginning to take it! What do we do? What are our orders?"

"Hold them back, of course!" Douglas roared.

"We can't! They've already taken the East wall, and the North side isn't far from falling!"

"How the hell are they taking the walls so easily? Nothing can break through here!" Douglas yelled at the phone.

"Sir, someone's fighting with them that just keeps coming. He heals every time he gets injured. They can't stop him. Also, they've got strong alchemists working with them, and the forces near Bradley are trying to hunt down and find the criminals who escaped," the voice on the other end said. "We're losing."

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, Mrs. Bradley?"<p>

The wife of the Fuhrer whipped around, and saw someone offering his hand to her. "Things are going to get bad really quickly, really soon. If you stay out here, you're probably going to get hurt."

"You're part of that group! The one trying to take Central!" she exclaimed, backing away.

"Ma'am, we didn't start this fight. They did. We're just going to win it."

* * *

><p>"Alright, people, open fire on it when you see it!" Buccaneer shouted. He got approvals as a response. The next few seconds were silent. And then something came into view. A massive form, swaying drunkenly, and looking around, confused. "Alright people, take him down!"<p>

Tank fire roared, and so did more heavy artillery. The Homunculus took hits, but didn't stop.

Of course, neither would the soldiers of Briggs until their job was done, or they were dead.

* * *

><p>"Okay, here's the reports we've got," Hughes said cheerfully. He'd gone with the two Xingese who had dropped into the smoke. They'd left to attack the North wall, and he was sitting in a Central room with General Armstrong, Sheska, and Charlie. General Armstrong was preparing to go back out again, once she issued a few more orders and found out where the most help was needed. "North wall's down, courtesy of the three Xingese and Greed. Lucky we managed to convince the bastard to help out this once before the battle. He'll probably turn on us later, but what the hell. Anyway, East border fell a long time ago, and it's been completely overrun. There's about no chance of them getting it back." A particularly loud screaming person ran past their room without even glancing inside. "South side's about to fall anytime now. The Ishvalans showed up there, and from the looks of it, nothing's going to stop those guys. The west part is technically still standing, since the gate's still in place, but, uh, they kind of went <em>under <em>it. Any backup teams are quickly being shot down from snipers. We were about to run out a while back, but some people drove by and dropped off ammo. We'll make it in that area.

"The Homunculi are beginning to rear their heads. Briggs should be taking care of Sloth, and the other escapees from the Central grounds are heading down to take out the Father and whoever's with him. Could be everyone, could be no one. Until they report in, we won't know." An explosion rocked the room, but none of them spared a glance outside. "Also, we've apparently gotten about another quarter of Central's army fighting with us. Someone shot Bradley, and revealed him as a Homunculus. Pride tried to kill the person, and from there, soldiers started dropping from their ranks and started siding with us. Damn, this is _fun_."

"I'll be at the Central grounds, and take out the officers there." Armstrong drew her sword, and left.

"Okay, where's the older Ed? Has he made any contact?" Hughes asked Charlie and Sheska. Both shook their heads. "Huh. Wonder where he went." A bad feeling emerged, but he shook it off. He wouldn't want his own country to die even if it was a parallel universe, right?

* * *

><p>The remains of the Philosopher's Stone known as Lust blew away in the wind. The Father glared at them, and more spikes shot up from the ground. The fighters dodged, and Lan Fan threw a flash bomb at him. He barely closed his eyes in time, but was dazed enough for Ed and Al to get in a few more hits.<p>

The Father grinned at them.

For a split second, they paused.

Someone yelped. Heads turned, and Ed fell forward as a shadow sliced past him, taking off his automail arm. He hit the ground, and then rolled back up to his feet. More shadows shot toward him, and he dodged most of them. Mustang snapped, and Pride backtracked to avoid the flames. The Father jumped forward again, and Hohenheim clapped. A wall halted the Father's process for barely a second, before he turned the wall into a series of massive ropes shooting toward Hohenheim. He dodged it easily, and returned fire.

Al took Ed's place, allowing his brother to slip off the field to try and repair his automail in the limited time he had.

* * *

><p>Ling and Greed moved on, past the fallen body of Gluttony. The wave behind them pushed on, completely taking over the last of the command in the north side. Lan Fan and Fu jumped over the others, hurrying to keep up with the mixed body of a Xingese prince and a Homunculi.<p>

The four began to move toward the heart of Central, where reports had said the last battles were being fought.

* * *

><p>Charlie threw his headset down, and began hastily packing up equipment. "Come on, we've got to go. We're close to the line of fire. I'm not sure why we didn't move out in the first place."<p>

"What?" Sheska asked, looking up from her own headset.

"The last homunculi are fighting yards from us. Well, on the ground, but still not that far away. I'd prefer not to become barbecue." Charlie hurried out of the room, and Sheska and Hughes moved quickly after him with their own equipment, at the same time Envy was caught in a trap and killed by two alchemists, a female general, and a fellow Homunculus.

* * *

><p>"Fullmetal! Move!" Mustang shouted. Ed ducked, and scooted out of the way as Pride attacked him. "Either get out of here or get your damn arm back into place already!"<p>

"You try reattaching this stupid thing on the move!" Ed yelled back. He threw himself to the ground, slipping under a series of shadows, and rolled out of the way of another grouping of them. "Damn it, go away!" Ed irritably shouted at Pride.

Pride smirked, but glanced at Hawkeye when a series of bullets went straight through his head.

"Hey, Homunculi! Running out of ammo?"

The last four Homunculi whipped around, including Greed in reaction to his race's name.

The older Ed was leaning casually against a wall, tossing two Stones into the air casually. He caught them, and bolted away from the fight. The distraction lasted long enough, and more attacks got through the Homunculi's defense for a few seconds before they retaliated again.

The Father let out a blast that destroyed everything in it's path. Trees and rocks disintegrated, and the few soldiers who got caught in the path died instantly. The ground was torn up, and left with a gaping hole. Part of a building collapsed, blocking the exit of the older Edward Elric.

"Hand them over." The Father strode calmly toward the parallel universe traveler. O. Ed didn't respond, and Pride scooped up both Stones with his shadows. He passed one to the Father, and kept the other.

"Just how stupid can you get?" Mustang shouted at O. Ed.

O. Ed raised an eyebrow, looking at the Father and Pride. "Wait for them to figure it out, or right around...now."

The Father suddenly hissed in anger. "Fakes!" He threw the fakes back at O. Ed, who smirked and ducked his head. The Stones hit the rubble behind him. "Not real in the slightest."

"I know." O. Ed's smirked increased. "Haven't figured out the rest yet? I shouldn't be the one you're watching. Well, depending on how you think of it, anyway."

Wrath's eye widened slightly, and he whipped around to look at a surprised younger Ed. An alchemical array had activated around him, drawing in Al as well. With a final crackle, the two vanished just as two familiar red stones flew into where they had disappeared.

"What the... Who did that?" Pride shouted in frustration.

"I did." Solf. J. Kimblee stepped out of the shadows. He gave a small smile. "Ed gave me proof of what you did on the other side. This is my revenge from when you killed me, and did something disgraceful for your kind. It doesn't matter if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's what happened."

"Kimblee...?" The Father's eyes narrowed.

"That would be my name." He clapped, and thrust his hands out in front of him. An explosion roared, and threw all three Homunculi in his path. He tipped his hat in greeting at Mustang. "Nice to see you all again, although I never would have expected before today to meet under these circumstances."

"What happened to Ed and Al?" Mustang demanded.

"They'll be back anytime now. Trust me, they're taking one trip worth taking." O. Ed stood from the wreckage, and brushed himself off. "Well, Homunculi. This is definitely not how the original battle went, but it seems you're destined to die. Commentary until we regain two of our members?"

"Screw you. Who the hell are you anyway?" Pride snarled.

"I am just a figment of your imagination." O. Ed grinned.

An alchemical array opened on the roof. The light died, and nothing happened for a second. Then Y. Ed jumped over the edge, used alchemy to slide down the roof, and sent a series of spikes at the three homunculi that weren't Greed. Wrath was taken by surprise and impaled several times over. Pride narrowly dodged some, but took a few hits. The Father took a massive one head-on. Ed slid off the remainder of the ramp he had made, and hit the back of his older self's head before landing in a crouch in front of him. O. Ed rubbed the back of his head, smirking. Y. Ed clapped again, and the Homunculi scattered, right into the path of several ticked off alchemists, Xingese, and/or soldiers.

Wrath dodged a series of flames and deflected them off his sword, just before he backed into a tattooed hand. The hand clenched, and blood flew from the Homunculi's body. Pride was cornered, and several people attacked him at once. He went down under a flurry.

Y. Ed took on the Father alone. Y. Ed looked up at his friends as the Father gave one last hiss, and his Stone gave out. "Everyone alright?"

"We're good over here." Mustang glanced around. "Let's contact the others and see what's happening elsewhere. What happened to Al?"

Y. Ed grinned. "I'll go get him. We'll meet you... somewhere."

"The safe house by the portal. I want to have a word with our friends on the other side," Mustang said. Y. Ed looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it. "Marcoh and Knox should be nearby. Does anyone need immediate help and isn't speaking up? If so, we'll yell at you for not speaking up later." Reluctantly, a few people peeled off to find the two doctors. "The rest of the city?"

"When I left, all the barriers into Central were either overrun or redundant. We've won. I don't doubt my people in Briggs," General Armstrong said.

Y. Ed departed. The injured ones made it back to the safe house with the doctors. It took hours, but Mustang, both Armstrongs, and Grumman managed to calm the city, and explain the situation. Enough people had seen what had happened, and the truth had been all they could say to prevent any more conspiracy theories.

Finally, Y. Ed, Al, Mustang, Hawkeye, General Armstrong, Grumman, Ling, Lan Fan, Fu, and a few chosen others were gathered in the safe house. After the fight, it had been discovered by the others that Ed had regained his original arm, and Al had regained his body.

"Where is the portal? I want to talk to them," General Armstrong demanded immediately.

"About that," Ed interrupted before anyone else could speak. "Is there anyone here who seems like they should be present, but aren't anywhere to be seen?"

"Where's your older self?" Hawkeye asked.

"I checked out the place where the portal was. It's a solid brick wall. There's no portal anymore. They closed it, and the only way for it to be opened again is if one of them does, or unless we figure it out." Ed leaned against the wall behind him. "We're alone again."

"Damn," Grumman complained. "I wanted to talk to myself if I was still alive."

* * *

><p><em>One hour before...<em>

"Hey!"

The older Ed sighed. He'd done what he wanted to do. What did his younger self want _now_? Reluctantly, he turned around. Sure enough, his younger self was standing there, obviously bursting with questions.

"You're going to close the portal, aren't you?"

O. Ed sighed. He should have seen that coming. If anyone would have figured it out, it would have been himself. "Yeah. I'm heading home, and then I'm closing the portal behind me. Sorry, it's just... some things you guys aren't ready for yet. We messed up your time enough, but some things should go at least semi-according to plane-plan."

"What?" Y. Ed frowned. Seemed like an odd slip-up.

O. Ed smirked. "I think you'll figure it out on your own. Anymore questions?" He leaned against the wall beside him. Y. Ed stared at him for a few seconds through narrowed eyes. His older self was confident. Not like he was -arrogantly confident-, but more confident in himself in a way that he had done the impossible and was proud of it. He knew that he had back-up no matter what. Which led the younger to his next question.

"How... did you end up trusting Mustang? I don't trust him. Hell, I think he's a bastard. Yet you trust him with your life. What happened?"

"I've had years to think about what happened in the years between when I did the stupidest thing possible to when I killed something that neared Godhood. I've been able to examine every aspect of what happened, and I came to see that there were a lot of people who I never gave credit to that helped me out more that I realized. Mustang was one of those people. His attitude matched, and still does match, my own so much that I thought he was an arrogant bastard who didn't deserve my respect. After the war, I realized we were exactly alike. We still poke fun at one another, but I'm not angry at him when I point out his age," O. Ed explained. "Yeah, I'm getting old, but I guess they're right when they say that with age comes wisdom. Of some sort, anyway. There's definitely some wisdom I can do without."

"What do you mean?" the younger Ed asked.

The elder sighed, and turned so that his back was against the wall. "You never had a real childhood. You had about eight years. After that, you were either trying to find a way to bring our mother back to life, in automail recovery, or fighting a war. You had to catch up on all the inappropriate jokes that make no sense but are still teenage slang after you had become a teenager."

"You forgave Hohenheim?"

"Had to. The guy saved the lives of everyone I know, including myself. He knew the Promised Day was coming, and he stayed to fight. He even warned Pinako and Winry to get out of the country. They ignored him, of course, but it's the thought that counts. After I killed the Father, Al was gone. I'd lost my arm, and he couldn't fight anymore, his body was in such bad condition. He had Mei sacrifice his soul so that I could get my arm back. Hohenheim offered the last of his Stone in exchange for Al. I yelled at him for it, and sacrificed my alchemy instead. Once again, it took me a while, but I found that he deserved respect I had never given him."

"Why? Why did you interfere more than you did? I spoke to Hughes, and he gave some possible explanations, but I want to hear it form you."

"It was war. People died. Hughes, Fu, Buccaneer, Barry, and even more. I didn't want them to die again when I could do something. So I saved Hughes, and gave you all pointers on how to kill the Homunculi. Lives didn't have to be wasted. Also, I don't regret giving up my alchemy, but there's times when I think I could help people better if I still had it. I spent the next few years of my life after the war traveling. Al traveled in the opposite direction as me, and we did as much as we could to repay our debts. Over-repay them, actually. It would have been easier with alchemy, though. I think that since you can have it, you'll be able to do more than I could. Push a certain person's butt up to the position of Fuhrer, for example. Although he did well enough on his own. Hughes probably told you the rest."

"You saved your friend's lives. You're not going to stick around to be there?"

"Nope. You're here. They don't need two of us." O. Ed grinned. "See? Wisdom with age. If that's all..."

The shorter gave him a resigned smile. "I guess I'll be the only one seeing you off, then."

"Yup. Your superior officer's furious at me, from what I've seen. He's got reason to be, so I don't have any ill will against him for it. I shouldn't have interfered for my own needs when I could've resulted in the death of _everyone_. It's just... you can't really understand the pain your death or someone else's death causes until it happens." He sighed. "You've got your alchemy, and you can do more than I can. Normally, it wouldn't be fair to say that to someone, but I know you well enough to know what you're going to do. Good luck on what you do next in your life. You'll do better than I did, since you've got a bit more help than I did.

"You've always got someone at your back. If you don't think you do, then you just need to pick them out of the shadows. I've got to go, but if you can figure out the array, I'll be seeing you on my side of the universes. I won't return here unless I have to."

Edward Elric of the year 1933 turned his back on his younger self, and walked back through the portal that had caused the trouble. On the other side, he closed it, and settled in for a wait that could last years, but would end with the sight of an aged but familiar face. He'd messed up some things that should have been left unmoved, but he didn't care. He'd done what he was pretty sure was the only option of things that he could do.

Sometimes, someone's not getting what's coming around, they _are _what's coming around.*

* * *

><p>*Something similar to this was said in the <em>Dresden Files<em>. I just rephrased it.

a/n: And so, I'm done. The whole talk between Mustang and Hughes about why Ed had come through was just kind of what I thought he would do. When Hughes was describing what had happened to him, that was what I saw when I first saw the picture with a grown-up Ed standing with a family around him. I saw someone who'd had the burden of the world on their shoulders, and knew to the full extent just how good it was to no longer have to deal with that.

Writing an older Ed was actually harder than it probably looked. As I said above, he wasn't worried about a war killing everyone he knew. He had time to think about what had happened and such. So I had to rewrite his affiliations with people and such. Why was Ed so carefree and happy when he was an adult? Simple. When Hohenheim met Ed at Trisha Elric's grave, he mentioned that Ed was exactly like what he'd been like when he was his son's age. I think Hohenheim was pretty carefree for someone who knew the world was going to end. So, Ed was carefree.

Okay, other than people maybe being a little OOC, which I'd prefer you didn't flame me about since it's not like you went and talked to the future characters of FMA, I did the best at this story that I could. I hadn't thought farther than the first chapter, but I figured it'd be a bad place to stop it at. The battle was short, yes. But think about how short the actual battle was. It was in manga form, so it was a little drawn out. Other than that, it was pretty short for a battle defining the lives of millions. Just saying. I didn't like this story that much when I first finished this, and I also kind of forgot that I wrote it, but once I reread it, I think this was one of my best.

Thanks for reading this! And if you want a little more insight on to what Ed's slip-up about the 'plane' was, just know that Age of Invention's all about that.


End file.
